Through the Storm
by BikerChick101
Summary: Sometime during 2x01 before the white party, there's a huge storm and Serena is terrified ...


The first crack of thunder had Serena whimpering under her covers and covering her ears. Her grandmother could not have chosen a worse night to be away and Erik wasn't even in the Hamptons until Friday, that left her alone in a huge house with nothing but the noise and her own overactive imagination.

There was another flash of lightning and Serena shut her eyes and held her breath as she waited for the thunder, once the noise had died down, she dived for her phone, scrolling through the contacts for someone to come to her rescue.

Nate and Blair were the only two people she would call and she knew both were busy. Blair was plotting some sort of revenge on Chuck and even if the brunette was free, Serena wouldn't want her leaving the house in this weather. That left Nate, who Serena would also like to keep safely indoors but she knew it would be easier for him to brave the stormy weather, the problem was that he was spending the night at Lady Catherine's, and she was not about to phone and disturb ... whatever was going on there.

Shuddering at the thought of braving this storm alone, Serena took her pillow and pressed it tightly on her ears, as another flash of lightening signalled the next thunder clap, this one louder than the one before.

The rain was coming down heavier now and that was doing nothing to sooth her nerves.

No, she thought, she was older now, she wasn't a scared 8 year old waiting for her father to come and save her from loud noises, she could take care of herself, after all she had the lights on, she had her cell phone in case of an emergency and she had her iPod with headphones so she could blast out the noise of the storm.

Taking a deep calming breath, she grabbed her headphones and just as she was going to put them on another flash of lightning took the lights with it when it past, Serena made a sound in her throat that sounded like a sad puppy as her eyes adjusted to the dark room. The thunder crackled, deafening her for a second but not long enough for her to miss what sounded like breaking glass.

"You're hearing things," she said to herself repeatedly, even as she got of her bed and hid herself in the corner of the room. She really needed to stop watching all those horror movies, they were not helping her at all.

"This is ridiculous," she said to herself. "It's windy, of course one of grams' stupid pot plants would fall over. It's just in my head, it will be over in an hour, at most ... right?"

"And now I'm talking to myself," she said rubbing her face with her hands.

Another flash of lightning had her cringing and pressing herself further against the wall because there was a figure standing in the doorway of her room. Her scream was stuck in her throat and she was terrified because she was going to die, she knew storms where bad, she never trusted the thunder or lightning and everyone left her alone to deal with it and now she's going to die in her room at her grandmothers Hampton's house alone and terrified.

"Serena?" a deep voice asked and she almost cried she was so relieved. Pushing herself of the wall she flings herself at the man, not even caring that he was soaked to the bone and he was getting her wet as he held her.

"Nate," she whimpered against his shoulder, hugging him tighter as the thunder that that followed the lightning finally crackled in the sky. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were ok," he said rubbing her back soothingly. "Are you here alone?"

"Gram's is out," Serena said refusing to let him go. "How did you know to come?"

"Just a feeling I guess," he said finally prying her away from his body and looking at her face in the dim light filtering through the window. "You ok?"

"I am now," she said managing a half smile.

"I need to change," he said looking down at his soaked clothes. "Do you still have my stuff from the last time I crashed here?"

Serena nodded and ran her hand down his arm until she found his hand and laced their fingers together, she didn't care that she was only going to walk two steps to get to the clothes, she needed to know he was real and not a figment of her very scared and very tired mind.

"S," Nate finally said when she tugged him closer so she didn't have to let go of his hand as she dug in the cupboard for his clothes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I am not letting you go until this is over," she told him as calmly as she could putting the clothes onto the bed and motioning for him to get changed.

"I need you to let go of my hand for me to get changed," he said smirking at her and then looking pointedly at their joined hands.

"It's nothing I haven't seen or felt before," she mumbled and Nate chuckled bring his hands, including hers, up to her face.

"S, I'm not leaving you, just let me change and you can handcuff us together after that," he said and Serena raised her eyebrows, what happened to the shy Nate she left behind.

"Fine," she finally agreed, letting go of his hand and moving around him, close enough that she could still feel his body heat and sat down at the edge of the bed waiting for him to continue. Nate cleared his throat and motioned for her to turn around, Serena roller her eyes and turned away from him, shy Nate was still here. "Hurry up."

"Where is your grandmother now?" Nate asked hoping to distract her from the storm raging outside by talking. "I thought she refused to leave you alone this summer because it would cause such a scandal is your 'boyfriend' stayed over without her there."

"Mrs Taylor left for business this afternoon and Mr Taylor would be all alone and helpless without grams there to save him," Serena said rolling her eyes at her grandmothers excuse to be away. She could hear Nate peel off his wet clothes and drop them to the floor behind her and wondered what it would be like if he were there as her boyfriend like everyone actually thought he was.

"Really your grandmother and Mr Taylor?" he said, his voice right next to her ear as he reached to the bed to grab one of the pieces of clothing she had dumped on the bed, Serena shivered when his breath hit the shell of her ear and closed her eyes as he stood up again, a flash of lightning illuminating the room for a moment.

She was about to answer when the thunder followed and Serena turned reaching up for Nate's neck and gripping onto him.

"It's over," he said softly, stroking her hair and rubbing soothing circles on her side. "S, I need to put some clothes on."

"No," she said shaking her head, she didn't care that he was completely naked or that she could feel every inch of him against her, she was not going to let him go until this night was over.

"Babe you need to get over this fear," he said softly and Serena let go of her death grip on him as she pulled back to look at his face, he only called her 'babe' at certain times, always when the electricity between them became charged and the possibility of them being something more was right in front of them.

"Hurry up," she said again turning around again and bit down on her lip nervously, she was still sort off in love with Dan, the last month she spent pretending to be Nate's girlfriend in public was not going to change that and Nate wasn't in love with her, he was too busy chasing Lady Catherine around to be interested in her.

The next round of lightning and thunder followed quickly, but Serena pressed her hands to her ears and waited for her bang of thunder to hit by herself, she didn't want to turn around and grab Nate, not after what just happened. Before the sound reached her ears though, Nate's arms were wrapped around her, pulling her against his back and her heart in her throat was beating too loud for her to hear the noise of the storm outside.

"Where's Lady Catherine tonight," Serena asked softly after he pulled her to the other end of the bed so they could get under the covers, he seemed to notice that she didn't want his touch so he left enough space between them that she was assured of his presence but they weren't actually touching.

"I don't know," he said shrugging watching the way her face furrowed in confusion in the dim light.

"I thought you were supposed to be there tonight," she said burrowing herself further under the blankets and peeking up at him, as he sat up against the headboard looking out of her window.

"I was," he said nodding and smiling down at her. "But then I saw heard the thunder and realized my pretend girlfriend would be terrified even if her grandmother were in the house, so I left her and came here."

"She couldn't have been too happy about that," Serena said, smiling because he decided to come check if she was ok instead of staying with his mistress.

"She wasn't," Nate laughed shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure I'm not going to see her again, but it's ok, that relationship was over before it started, wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry Natie," Serena said unconsciously moving closer to him, she knew that he felt something for the older woman. "She was stupid for starting this with you."

"I was stupid for thinking it would go anywhere," he said putting his arm behind his head to get into a more comfortable position.

"Does your mom know that you're here?" Serena asked, glancing outside just in time to see another flash of lightning, but this time the thunder that followed was much softer which eased Serena's fears a little.

"She thinks I'm with Chuck," he said watching her, her cheeks went red when she turned back from the window to find his gaze focused on her. "Shouldn't Chuck be here?"

"He left this morning and I haven't seen him since," Serena said shrugging, he was probably off getting drunk somewhere or finding ways to get into Blair's pants again. "Everything feels so messed up."

"What do you mean?" Nate asked the light from the lightning illuminating his body, making Serena shiver and wonder where that reaction came from.

"I just mean, Blair and Chuck, you and an older woman, it's like you and Chuck switched places," Serena said and Nate laughed. "And then here I am pining over a boy and Blair is the one enjoying every second of summer, this year just messed us up."

"I think that's growing up," Nate said chuckling, when Serena gave him a look that said she clearly wanted to stop growing up now. "S, Dan is an idiot for what he did, you should stop pining over him and enjoy the Hamptons parties and the beach and your best friends who hate seeing you depressed over a boy who didn't deserve you in the first place."

"Don't tell me what to do Nathaniel Archibald," she joked and Nate just grinned, she always did the opposite of what he said anyway. "I think we're going to be ok," she finally decided closing her eyes. "And I think the storm is gone so I can finally relax."

"Urm," Nate said as he watched the flash of lightning strike right next to the window and the thunder that followed immediately after rattle the entire house.

All of a sudden there was a weight on top of him and blond hair clouding his vision, his arms automatically went around Serena's body gripping her tightly to him and telling her it was ok, her fear of thunder confused everyone who knew her because no-one knew where it came from, she was the fearless one of them all and one little storm could render her helpless and terrified.

Serena let Nate's presence calm down her frantic heart, she didn't know what she would have done if he didn't show up to be her knight and shining armour, she's just so happy that Nate was still her perfect Natie, even after everything that had happened with them.

She lifted her head to thank him, moving her hair out of both their faces, to find their lips so close to each other she would barely have to move to kiss him. Nate to his credit was deathly still as he watched her, his eyes never leaving hers. Serena didn't even think twice leaning down to press her lips to his, it barely took Nate a second to respond to her kiss and flip her over, taking control of the situation.

"This doesn't change anything," Serena said when they stopped to breath, lifting her fingers to trace Nate's face as his fingers trailed down her body, he shivered against her opening his eyes and bumping their noses together.

"It never does," he responded capturing her lips again and distracting her so much that she never even heard the thunder claps that followed.

* * *

"You should really stop staring at her so much," Serena said linking her arms with Nate and snuggling to his side. They were at the white party, mingling with guests and pretending to be in a relationship, the night before had been so much more than Serena was expecting and not she was stuck between telling Nate that she was wrong and everything had changed or just letting him believe that them sleeping together meant nothing to her again.

"I would if she didn't just ask me what I was still doing here," he said glaring at Lady Catherine. "I thought it was obvious yesterday that I am no longer her plaything."

"Ok that's it, she's officially uninvited to next year's book club," Serena said, only half joking as her words just flew over Nate's head.

"I just wish I could make her feel as badly as I feel right now," he said still watching the older woman parading around with her husband.

"You totally can," Serena said grinning with an evil glint in her eye and Nate turned back to her and raised an eyebrow as she wrapped her arm around him and kissed him.

"Wow," Nate said when they broke apart, both of them were giggling like kids, Lady Catherine forgotten, it was just Nate and Serena with their foreheads pressed together and grins on their faces.

Someone cleared their throat beside them and Serena and Nate turned to find Dan looking at them and then all of a sudden he was gone and Serena made a move to follow him only to be stopped by Nate's arms still around her.

"Nate," she whispered turning her eyes back to him, her hands falling to his shoulders. "You have to let me go."

"No," he said shaking his head, holding her tighter. "You don't get to tell me last night doesn't change anything, not after that kiss and definitely not because Dan showed up because I know exactly what last night was and you don't get to take that away from me, not again."

"Nate," she said again, bringing her hands up to cup his face. She didn't think about what the night before would have meant to him, she just assumed he needed to get over Catherine.

"Be with me, like it should have been before Blair changed the game," he pleaded with her, he still loved her, there was nothing in the world that would change that, he tried as hard as he could for years but here he was still head over heels for her and asking for a chance. "I should have fought harder for you when you got back and I should have never gotten involved with Catherine this summer, it should have been you because it's always been you and that's never going to change."

Serena felt her jaw drop, she didn't know that Nate felt that way, never knew that he loved her. "You're serious," she said because it was the only thing she could think of saying as she looked into his deep blue eyes.

"I don't think I have ever been more serious about anything," he said shaking his head. "I want to be with you Serena, I want everyone to know who my heart belongs to and I want us to have a chance."

Serena gripped Nate's face and kissed him, Nate smiled into the kiss because he knew what this meant, it meant yes, it meant that she wanted to give them a chance too.

To anyone around them, Nate and Serena would have looked like the young couple they have watched this entire summer sharing a few stolen moments, but to Nate and Serena this the start of their relationship, this was them finally getting a chance to prove that they meant something to each other, this was their beginning.

* * *

 **A/N : I forgot how much I love writing these two, hey guys it's been a while, I am very very terrible at writing recently, I've been so busy attempting to not be such a loner and actually go out and do things instead of reading and writing fanfiction lol but I think I'm finding my balance**

 **To all those waiting for a sequel to PMABS, I promise that I have started it, but for all the people who have been reading my stories for a while, you know that I am terrible at actually writing the story and posting it so it might be a while until i am happy with what I'm going to post**

 **Finally this story is dedicated to Samantha who I spoke to on twitter last week, I fully intended on posting this when we spoke about me posting another fic but I wasn't happy with what I was posting so finally here's what I came up with, I hope you like it**

 **Anyone else who would like to contact me on twitter, my handle is niknakpaddywak3 , I know it's a mouthful lol but please tweet me I love talking to you guys**

 **Anyway, Until Next Time (^^,)**


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